Gwyneth Paltrow was denied the chance to indulge in a new display of weeping for joy last night when Cate Blanchett was awarded best actress at the 55th British Academy Film Awards.

Ms Blanchett, the Australian-born actress who was snubbed at the Oscars, received the award for her complex portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth in Shekhar Kapur's film Elizabeth.

The main Bafta awards were closely divided between the two Elizabethan dramas: Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love, the fictionalised account of the playwright's early life, which added the Bafta best film award to the Oscar for best film it won last month.

Elizabeth was awarded the Alexander Korda award for the outstanding British film of the year.

It took another three Baftas for film music, best cinematography and best make-up, while Shakespeare in Love took a further three: best supporting actor and actress awards for Geoffrey Rush and Dame Judi Dench, and best editing award.

Roberto Benigni, the exuberant director/star of Life is Beautiful, the gruelling holocaust tragi-comedy, was awarded best actor, the same award he took home from last month's Oscars.

Judi Dench took the best supporting actress award for the second time in a month, despite the brevity of her role as an elderly, soured Queen Elizabeth.

She was on screen in Shakespeare in Love for eight minutes, one of the most fleeting appearances ever to have received recognition. She was not at the ceremony last night.

This year saw no real British bias in award winners. Actors Michael Caine, Sir Ian McKellan, Emily Watson and Jane Horrocks all went home unrecognised.

Despite numerous nominations, Saving Private Ryan failed to take a major award but picked up trophies for its sound and visual effects.

The gritty British heist movie Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which is taking America by storm at present, was rated most popular film by audiences.

The Baftas are billed as the most glamorous show business event in the UK, but they inevitably remain the poorer, shabbier cousins of the Oscars.

This year's north London venue did not quite match the glitzy Los Angeles ambience. Guests started arriving in taxis and mini cabs at the Business Design Centre - very New Labour - just off Islington's High Street, shortly after 5 o'clock.

As stars stepped out on to the red carpet outside the building they got a glimpse of the kebab centre, the William Hill betting shop and the 5 Star Deluxe dry cleaners.

The crowd's roar of enthusiasm for arriving actors was echoed by a larger crowd spilling out of a pub on the corner, watching the Tottenham Hotspurs' FA Cup match.

While the Oscars had Whoopi Goldberg as host, the Baftas had Jonathan Ross, more of a B-grader.

But the actors and actresses did their best to add a touch of glamour to the unpromising surroundings. Elizabeth Taylor was in Britain for the first time in seven years to receive one of the highest awards handed out by the British film industry.

She was granted the fellowship of the British Academy in recognition of a career which has spanned more than 40 years.

Gwyneth Paltrow arrived in a sombre mood, wearing an all black embroidered two piece outfit and baring her midriff and black-painted toe nails to the fumy north London air.

 The 1999 Bafta Winners

Best Film Shakespeare in Love.

The David Lean Award for best achievement in direction Peter Weir, The Truman Show